How to Stay in Business: Key Considerations for Disaster Recovery - Slide 7

Monitoring and oversight of application architectures will make certain you have what you need in the event of a disaster. If you are using the cloud as a DR site for hosting your application, ensure that all application changes are implemented in your cloud provider accounts. Any changes to the hardware or OS in one private cloud facility must be planned and replicated at the disaster site. This is a key advantage over traditional DR facilities where they may sit idle and quickly become outdated and unable to support the applications. New products today simplify how to electronically replicate your application environment in the cloud, across domains.

In the wake of the increasing threats to the data center via cybercrime and the recent natural disasters occurring across the globe, AFCOM's Data Center Institute believes it is time to review the adequacy of existing data center business continuity and disaster recovery plans.

They maintain that the cloud offers new and dynamic approaches to the art of disaster recovery. It builds upon the techniques developed with load balancing, virtualization and geographical separation of assets. If done right, the cloud can drive multi-purpose utilization of assets, which makes disaster recovery more affordable and can provide significant ROI.

Leveraging the cloud for use in a disaster will require pre-planning and monitoring of the resources available in the cloud to ensure that what‘s needed is there when it is needed. This slideshow features eight key steps, identified by AFCOM, for taking advantage of the cloud for disaster recovery.